


Served Cold

by pprfaith



Series: Running [4]
Category: Fast and the Furious Series
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, F/M, Hospital, Injury, Interlude, Loss, Murder, Not Beta Read, POV Alternating, Revenge, Rule 63, Snippets, crazy people, the usual
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-25
Updated: 2016-04-25
Packaged: 2018-06-04 10:56:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6655225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pprfaith/pseuds/pprfaith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Moments between L.A. and Rio.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Served Cold

**Author's Note:**

> Let's face it: Fast 4 would have been very, very boring in this verse, because the entire movie is carried by interpersonal conflict, which doesn't exist in this verse. So I improvised. I do have plans for Fast 5, though. I hope this'll tide you over until then. :)

+

**Leon**

He isn’t sure how he makes it to the house, or even why he goes there, of all places. It hasn’t been home in years, after all.

But. But. 

It was home, once upon a time. And the people inside it still are, no matter what Letty thinks. Letty. God, Letty.

Dom never made him hand in his keys, never said he couldn’t come and go as he pleases, so he lets himself in through the back door and almost falls flat on the kitchen lino, grabbing at his side, vision dizzy, hands bloody. He can still feel the ghost of fire licking at his skin. 

Footsteps, an angry voice, shouting, “What the fuck?!” and then, after a beat of silence, this time full of worry, “What the fucking _fuck_? Leon?!”

Leon never hated Brain, not really, but since he found out she was a cop, he also wasn’t ever really relaxed around her. Unfair, probably, but true. Tonight, though, for the first time, he’s truly, genuinely glad to see her. 

If anyone can sort this shit out, it’s the former cop.

“Letty,” he gasps as Brian’s hands, strong and gentle, take a hold of him, guide him to the nearest chair, even as she shouts for help. “Letty.”

Letty, who pushed him out the passenger side door after the crash. Letty, who told him not to be a fucking idiot. “Run, Papi. Fucking run.”

Letty, who was always the brave one between the two of them, the warrior queen. 

Letty, who crawled out the driver’s side and spat right in Fenix’ face, despite barely being able to stand. 

Letty. 

Letty, Letty, Letty.

“Letty’s dead,” he gasps, grabbing Brian’s hand and squeezing, desperately. “She’s dead.”

Brian stares at him for a moment, speechless. Then she closes her eyes, inhales, exhales. When she opens them again, they’re full of sorrow. 

Sorrow, and rage.

“Hush,” she tells him, a bloody hand carding through his hair, the other applying pressure to his side. “Hush, it’ll be okay.” Then she turns and shouts, far too loud, “Someone call a fucking ambulance, for fuck’s sake!”

Somehow, Leon doesn’t believe her. 

+

**Brian**

“Bri?” Dom’s voice is quiet, but she still jumps and almost crashes backwards into the tub. Barely managing to catch herself, she decides to forgo her perch on the tub’s edge and just slides down until she’s wedged between it and the toilet. It’s cold, but her ass is numb anyway and the rest of her feels…

She guesses she finally knows how Dom felt when he had to hold her insides in after the Trans shot her. Jesus Christ. 

A callused hand appears in her field of vision and then the rest of Dom shoves into sight, crouched low. “Let’s get you cleaned up,” he tells her in that soft voice he reserves for lost neighborhood kids and recalcitrant engine parts. 

She reaches out to grasp his hand, startles, stops. Her own are red-brown, crusted with Leon’s blood. It’s not the first time she’s had blood on her hands, not by a long shot. She was a cop once. Not even the first time it’s family blood. Vince comes to mind. 

But tonight… they still don’t know if Leon’s gonna make it. And Letty. God, Letty. 

She doesn’t even like Letty, most days. Didn’t. Didn’t like Letty. Fuck, fuck, fuck. 

“We should be at the hospital.”

Dom gives up on getting her cooperation and pulls her to her feet, box stepping her in front of the sink, where he leans her against cool porcelain and plasters himself against her back. He turns on the tap. 

“Mia and Jesse are there.”

Before she can open her mouth, he goes on, “And Vince is looking out for them. He’ll stick with Leon until we know more. Han is on his way over, he’ll be here soon. Rome’s all the way in Rio, he’s safe. Everyone’s safe.”

Except Letty.

“Cops are still downstairs,” he adds after a moment, and the way he mutters it makes it clear how much he likes that. 

Right. GSW. They came automatically when Mia called the ambulance. They’re strangers, men Brian has never met before. They don’t know to hate her. The younger one, the rookie, even seems to pity her. 

She raises her head, looks at herself in the mirror while Dom cleans her hands for her. She looks a fright. She looks like a lost little girl. 

That’s not who she is. It’s been decades since she was that girl and only Rome’s alive to remember her. She bites the inside of her cheek, sets her jaw. By the time Dom has dried both their hands and meets her gaze in the mirror, she looks like herself again. 

Brian O’fucking Connor, former cop, racer, fighter. Dom’s woman, Rome’s girl, Mia’s best friend. Alpha bitch of Team Toretto. 

Dom’s lips quirk, a bitter parody of a smile and she nods. 

The moment is broken by the rookie, Francis, clearing his throat in the doorway. “Miss O’Connor? We have a few more questions.”

Brian nods. “Have you found the wreck yet? Letty Ortiz?”

He looks surprised by the change in demeanor, but answers honestly, “Yes. A few minutes ago. Someone will need to go to the morgue in the morning and… you’ll need to identify the body. Unless Miss Ortiz has other family?”

Dom shakes his head. Growls, “We’re her family.”

“Dom.” Brian puts a hand on his arm, draws him back. “Call Rome. He needs to know.” She hesitates, but there’s a plan already forming in the back of her mind, building around what she knows Dom will want to do. “Tell him to stay put.”

Her man narrows his gaze at her, but she doesn’t budge. After a beat, he nods and with a last look at the cop, takes the other door into their bedroom. Leaving Brian alone with the rookie. 

Good. She’s going to need some information. 

+

**Mia**

Mia thought her days of fretting in hospitals and police stations were over. She thought they were done. 

In hindsight, that was always a naïve belief to hold on to as long as her family still raced every weekend. As long as they kept unregistered weapons hidden all over the house and garage. As long as they hung with drug dealers, smugglers and thieves. 

She’d like to blame them for this, for Letty and Leon, but she knows she can’t. Mia races, too, likes Hector and his crew as much as the rest of her family. She enjoys spending the money Dom and Brian earn in their races and she has never felt so much as a twinge of guilt at stealing medical supplies for those under her care. 

After the truck-jackings, Dom and Mia agreed to start over. To be equals. That means that Dom can’t make the decisions alone anymore. It also means that Mia can’t blame him anymore. 

She suffers from the same selective morality as the rest of Team Toretto and she knows that if she ever comes face to face with Letty’s killer, she won’t regret anything she does. 

Still, the idea of a peaceful life was nice while it lasted.

“What happens now?” Jesse asks, biting his nails, bouncing on the chair next to her. Vince is prowling the halls.

Now?

Now Dom will avenge Letty and if he doesn’t survive the night, Leon, too. Brian will use her wits and her charm to make sure he gets the job done. Vince, Han, Rome, they’ll all back them up. And Mia and Jesse will be left on the sidelines. For their protection. To keep them out of jail if things to south. To keep them safe.

Well, fuck that noise. 

“War,” she tells their whiz kid. “There’s going to be a war.”

He stops mid-nibble on his thumbnail and turns clear eyes on her. When they look at him, they still see the nervous teenager he once was, but Jesse isn’t that kid any more than Mia is still the girl who dreamed of white picket fences. “You think?”

“I know,” she corrects. “And they’re going to be idiots about it,” she explains, before digging into her purse and pulling out her access card. “Want to help me steal supplies?”

He gapes at her. “And then we could probably use the police reports, if you’re up for it,” she adds.

His mouth snaps shut with an audible click. He straightens, wipes his hand dry on his jeans and licks his lips. “Meds first,” he decides.

+

**Vince**

“You know this is insane, right Dom?” he demands, already knowing that a) Dom knows and b) he doesn’t give a fuck. 

Letty is dead. Leon might never wake from his medically induced coma. He looks to Brian for help, which is fucking stupid because when there’s stupid going on, Brian’s usually the one leading the way, but, but. She’s still got Leon’s blood caked under her nails to maybe, just this once, she’ll be more careful. Dom calls her fearless but Vince just thinks Brian’s convinced they’re all immortal. Maybe this reality check will ground her and she can, in turn, ground Dom. 

It’s a vain hope, though, because the moment he meets her icy gaze, he knows she’s switched from terror to fury.

“What’s the alternative?” she asks. “Letting them get away with it?”

He can’t believe he’s saying this but, “Let the cops do their job?”

Brian snorts. “Have you read this?” she points at the stack of messily stapled print-outs Jesse supplied them with hours ago, warning them only to burn them when they were done. “The cops have known about this cartel for years, have been actively trying to take it down for six months, _with_ the feds, and they’ve got squat.”

Dom supplies the chorus line, “They hurt our family.”

God. Yes, they did, but this? “You’re talking about taking on a drug cartel. Alone.”

Dom grins darkly, knowing that this is his best friend giving in. Brian leans over to pat him on the arm. “If it’s any consolation, Rome is already working on an exit strategy.” She pauses. “And we’re not going through with it unless everyone’s on board because if we do this…”

She trails off, looks to Dom.

“If we do this,” he finishes for her, “we’re burning all our bridges.”

Sometimes Vince regrets helping Dom up from the ground that day in first grade. 

+

**Gisele**

There’s something different about Toretto and O’Connor. 

She can tell from the moment she meets them and it becomes obvious after they get the job, at the club. They’re dangerous. The way they move around each other speaks of experience, of trust, of sheer, undiluted confidence in always getting out on top. 

It also speaks of training, the kind street racers and thugs like them usually don’t have. Their rap sheets shed a little light on that, though. One ex-con and one ex-cop. Formal training, some martial arts and a whole lot of street smarts thrown into a pot and stirred lightly. 

But that’s not all of it. She catches Toretto snooping and flirts with him, just a little, just to see what he’ll do. She’s seen him kiss his woman, but she’s also seen him study what’s on offer upstairs, seen the way he scanned her, head to toe. 

“How do you like your women?” she asks him and he looks at her, oh, he looks. But he’s seeing blonde and blue and nothing like Gisele has ever been.

“Fierce,” he tells her. “Strong. The kind that calls you on your bullshit and knows an engine inside out.” He smiles. “Fearless. She gotta be fearless.”

She doesn’t bother asking who he’s talking about, doesn’t try playing coy. Toretto trusts his partner, absolutely. He has faith in her. And Gisele knows, without a doubt, that he’d die and kill for her. 

She envies him that certainty. O’Connor, too. 

Maybe that’s why she never tells Braga that he was sniffing around. 

Maybe that’s why, when it all goes to shit and her phone’s screen flashes with his name, she answers anyway. 

Maybe. 

+

**Dom**

He doesn’t let Brian do it. 

He knows she would, knows she wants to, almost as badly as he does, but he doesn’t let her. Leon was his before he was Brian’s and Letty was never Brian’s at all. 

That, and he’s not going to let her get more blood on her hands than she has to. Especially not when he knows some part of her, some vestigial ‘serve and protect’ part, still clamors for them to go the legal way. Get Braga’s ass back stateside and have him arrested. 

It’s a nice thought, but like he told Vince: there’s too many burned bridges behind them now. They broke too many laws to ever get away clean and Dom’s not going back inside. Not ever. 

So he’s the one with the gun to Braga’s head, and he’s the one who stares at Christ on the cross and doesn’t feel a thing. 

He’s the one who pulls the trigger. 

It’s anticlimactic, nothing close to what he wants to do to this man, but it gets the job done. Fenix died slower, died uglier. This is just clean-up. 

One drug lord piece of shit less in the world. He tells himself that’s a good thing, even as he knows the void will be filled in a matter of weeks, if not days. Maybe Gisele will take over, but he doubts it. She seems too smart to get herself tangled up in this mess. 

Brian’s tugging on his arm, grabbing the gun from his hand, wiping it down and then flat out pouring bleach from a flask all over it. “Someone heard that, Dom. Come on.”

She spares Braga a single look, then begins pulling him toward the exit. 

Fenix and Braga are dead. It’s done. Dom hopes that Letty was watching. 

+

**Roman**

When Rome went on a world tour to work out the kinks in his legs after sitting still for so long in Chino, he didn’t really expect it to turn into a one-way trip. 

Didn’t expect to end up in Rio, hustling up a house for the rest of the crew. For them to join him. For a quick holiday maybe, but not for real. 

To never go home. 

Well. He guesses he could. He ain’t the one that fucked up half on LA and a good portion of the Mexican border to avenge Letty and Leon. 

But what’s up there for him, if Brian and them’s down here? Nothing, that’s what. 

So he puts on his Suzie Homemaker hat and makes it real pretty for them, keeps his cell on and listens to his girl narrate the trip down South America in a cavalcade numbering half a dozen cars and everyone he cares about in the world. 

That Rosa girl from two doors down winks at him and smiles when he winks back. Brian’s last update – two hours ago – was _I’m about to fight Dom for the radio, wish me luck_. CNN has yet to show mugshots of anyone he knows, and his contacts say the cartel isn’t up to chasing down anyone just yet. Won’t be for months, if they hide well enough. If they don’t go back. 

Rosa stops at her door, looks back at Rome. Cocks her head in question. 

Yeah. He figures they’ll be just fine in Rio. 

+

**Author's Note:**

> Come [tumble with me](http://wordsformurder.tumblr.com/).


End file.
